It was a good year for revenue and a bad year for piping plovers on Sandy Neck.

In her year-end report to the Sandy Neck Advisory Board Nov. 19, Chief Ranger Nina Coleman said storms and predators laid waste to nests of the protected shorebirds. Only three chicks fledged this year, compared with 57 in 2011 and 60 in 2010.

“It was a terrible year for piping plover, the worst it’s ever been,” Coleman said, adding wryly, “Hence, all the revenue.”

With few birds to protect, more of the beach could be open. What’s more, the shark scares that closed other Cape beaches drove additional business to the northside strand shared by Barnstable and Sandwich.

The overall number of camping nights rose from 7,373 to 7,911 from last year. With greater numbers on the beach, enforcement actions increased as well. In 2012, 118 citations were issued, way up from 2011’s 29. Written warnings rose from 2 to 21, revoked permits were up to 17 from 11, and four no trespass orders were cut as opposed to just one last year.

“Enforcement was way up,” Coleman said. “We made a commitment to really get after the speeders.”

Park officials maintained their long-term commitment to the Neck’s diamondback terrapins, capping 100 nests to protect eggs. “We’re seeing a return for the capping and head-starting program,” she said.

Capping of a different sort sparked a discussion about the number of off-road vehicles parking on the Neck. Milt Berglund of Hyannis, who said he’s been coming to the beach since 1955, hiked there this summer and found that, “in any one day, there are too many off-road vehicles.”

Trying to return along the beach after a hike on the trails can become an unpleasant squeeze past ORVs, said Berglund, On Sept. 2, he said, “we actually felt unwelcome trying to walk along the waterline. The response was that we were intruding in someone’s backyard.” Berglund asked that “some reasonable limit” be set so “people other than RV users have some access rights to the beach.”

Board chair Rich French called the season past “an anomaly” given the multitude of closures at other Cape beaches.” He said it’s unlikely that level of use will continue, adding it was “unfortunate that we did not take hikers into account.”

Member Nate King put things in perspective by recalling a long-ago Fourth of July when he counted 1,500 vehicles on the Neck.